


11/02/2019: Homecoming

by pop_incognito



Series: 365 Drabbles [42]
Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, M/M, Making Up, Misunderstandings, cliches up the wazoo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-16 03:11:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18086360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pop_incognito/pseuds/pop_incognito
Summary: Rei's day was going as it usually does, until his high school best friend comes crashing back into his life after five years of radio silence.





	11/02/2019: Homecoming

**Author's Note:**

> So. This may or may not be to make up for the last chapter of Run to Paradise. It's also two parts, the second part is on its way. I hope you all like this!

The bell above the door jingles, and Rei glances up from the pink rose he is carefully trimming the thorns off, friendly smile on his face. “Welcome to the Butterfly House, how can I help you today?” he asks automatically, and then he registers the person standing in front of his counter. “Nagisa?” he whispers, staring at his old high school friend in disbelief.

Despite the multitude of silver hoops pierced through Nagisa’s ears – and the two in his nostril, a black one in the middle of his bottom lip – and all the tattoos scattered across his arms and peeking out of the collar of his scoop-neck shirt, Rei would recognise those pretty eyes, and that bright grin anywhere. Said grin widens, and Nagisa rocks back on his heels, hands tucked behind his back. He licks his lip briefly, Rei’s eyes drawn to the action after a soft clink reaches him. A tongue bar taps playfully on the black lip ring.

“Heya, Rei!” Nagisa chirps, his voice a little deeper than what Rei remembers from high school, but still Nagisa through and through. “I was hoping I’d find you here, how have you been?”

Rei blinks. How has he been? He’s been lonely the last five years since Nagisa moved to America to train under one of the solid colour masters in the states, and proceeded to never visit, never call, and in general never let Rei know that he is even still alive. “How the hell did you find me?” he snaps instead of answering, hurt that his best friend had just up and left him like that. Rei’s heart is doing these little half-beats, a flush starting to rise in his cheeks. He adjusts his glasses and clicks his mouth shut, waiting for an answer.

Nagisa is still grinning, the little shit, and he leans in over the counter, keeping one hand behind his back and raking the other through his hair, revealing the pink-dyed undercut underneath. “Mako gave me the shop address,” he says easily, grin softening into a proper smile. “I thought I would surprise you!”

“Surprise…?” Rei scowls, gently setting the rose back in the vase with the rest of the bunch so he can wrap his arms around himself, feeling a lot of things at once and not really sure how to handle it. “Damn, Makoto. Always being so nice to people…” he mutters, and then something occurs to him. “Wait, how did you know where Makoto works?” he asks, and Nagisa opens his mouth to answer before stopping and closing it again, shuffling his feet sheepishly. The sinking feeling in Rei’s chest gets worse. “You… you kept in contact with Makoto, but not me?”

“Sort of…” Nagisa rubs the back of his neck. “Haru came into the shop I was apprenticing in last year while he was on that big tour around the training facilities. He wanted to get this crazy-ass ocean scene tattooed on his side, and we got into this big argument about how you can’t submerge a tattoo in water until after it’s healed, and then-” He catches sight of the angry glint in Rei’s eyes, and blathers on, a bit more rapidly. “And he must have told Makoto! Because, like, a month later a letter arrived for me from Makoto, and it had all of his contact information in it.” He coughs awkwardly. “So, that’s why I knew where he was. And I asked him to tell me where you were…”

As Nagisa trails off, Rei’s eye starts twitching irritably, and he curls his fingers into the rough material of his apron. “Which doesn’t explain why you thought you could just waltz into my shop after five years of nothing! No contact whatsoever!” he says, getting louder and more worked up with every word. “I thought… I thought we might have had something, Nagisa! All through our last year of university, you kept taking me out places, and holding my hand and crawling into my bed in the middle of the night.” Rei reaches up and takes his glasses off because he doesn’t want to look at Nagisa anymore. “I was in love with you, and then you just left! You left, and you never came back, and you didn’t even try and call me.” And Rei doesn’t want to cry, because he still has six and a half hours left in his shift until Aii comes in to take the evening deliveries, but here he is, crying in the middle of his shop at 8:30am on Wednesday morning. “And now you just waltz in here like nothing happened, and you expect me to be happy to see you?!”

Sniffling reaches Rei, and he hesitates for a few seconds before sliding his glasses back on, coming face to face with the sight of Nagisa on the verge of tears himself, eyes swimming and his bottom lip caught between his teeth. “I,” Nagisa says thickly, “I didn’t realise.” He swallows, slides his lip ring between his front teeth before continuing, “I didn’t realise you felt the same way I did.” He says it so quietly that Rei nearly misses it, and his breath catches in his throat. Before he can respond, Nagisa pulls his hand from behind his back and sets something on the counter, and then turns silently on his heel and leaves the shop.

Rei doesn’t know if he should call after Nagisa, or smash the vase of roses. Instead of doing either of those things, he glances down at what Nagisa had left on the counter.

It’s a tiny stuffed penguin, no bigger than Rei’s hand, with the stem of a yellow rose tucked under one wing, and a folded envelope under the other. He reaches out and snatches up the gift, setting the flower and the letter aside to inspect the toy, breath caught in his throat. It is. It’s the stupid stuffed penguin that Nagisa won in a claw machine on one of their many not-dates all those years ago, gifting it to Rei and insisting that Rei keep it always. It had mysteriously disappeared from Rei’s apartment the last day Nagisa stayed over, gone from its usual place on the corner of his mattress where Rei could reach it if he needed to cuddle something in the middle of the night.

Hugging the penguin to his chest, Rei picks up the phone and calls Aii. He gets Momo, and after several exasperating exchanges with his co-worker’s boyfriend, Aii takes the phone. “I’m really sorry, Aii,” he says, trying not to let his voice shake. “But can you come in now? A personal matter has come up and I need to go home.”

Aii is a fucking saint, and he agrees instantly, Rei clearly failing at keeping the emotion out of his voice. He’s out of the shop twenty minutes later, penguin tucked into his bag, the rose stored in a single vase in the cool storage area out the back of the shop, and the letter grasped in both hands. Rei bursts into the coffee shop, and there must be something on his face because Kisumi is suddenly in front of him, pushing him into a booth and promising to bring him a large cup of coffee with an extra pump of lavender syrup and a poppyseed muffin – all on the house. Thanking Kisumi, Rei slits the envelope open and pulls the letter out.

_Heya, Rei!_ It reads, exactly the same way he had always greeted Rei.

_I know you’re probably really angry at me, but please take the safe return of Mr Pengy as a sign of my deepest apology. I owe you a huge explanation, but I want you to know that I plan on making the last five years up to you completely!_

_When I moved, I was planning on telling you – and on calling you. I was going to call you every day, international phone bills be damned. But. I did something stupid. I fell in love with my best friend, and my best friend didn’t feel the same. So I ran away, because I’m a coward, and I couldn’t face my own emotions._

Kisumi returns, setting the mug by Rei’s elbow, the muffin in front of him, and sat himself beside Rei in the booth, wrapping his arms around his friend and hugging him.

“What are you doing?” Rei asks wetly, and a tissue appears in front of him. Kisumi really is the best person for comforting.

“Comforting you,” Kisumi replies, and he nuzzles his nose into Rei’s shoulder. “Go back to whatever that is and pretend I’m not here. My boss is letting me take half an hour off because I’m awesome.”

Rei snorts. “Your boss is letting you take half an hour off because you’re sleeping with him, and Asahi is a pushover.” It comes out a little more bitter than he meant it to, but Kisumi doesn’t take it personally, just squeezes Rei tighter around the waist and hums lightly in his ear. Rei turns his attention back to Nagisa’s letter.

_It was a really childish way of handling the situation, but I didn’t want to be faced with you saying ‘No’. I know none of this is an excuse for leaving, but I’m moving back to Tokyo to open my own shop – in this mall! It’s actually going to be in the vacant shop across the walkway from the Butterfly House. So, I want us to be friends again._ The following line, ‘ _I want us to be more than friends’_ has been crossed out so many times that Rei squints at it for a solid minute until he makes the words out. _I promise, I’ll spend as long as it takes making it up to you, Rei!_

_Love, Nagisa_.

And it was followed by Nagisa’s phone number and address. Rei seriously contemplates screwing the letter up and soaking it in his coffee.

He doesn’t do that.

Rei pulls his phone out and calls Nagisa. “I read your letter,” he says quietly, and Kisumi takes that as his cue to leave, squeezing Rei’s free hand and kissing his cheek goodbye. “I’m not saying that I forgive you, or that I’m not mad at you, because I am. But,” and he pauses to take a breath, hearing Nagisa do the same on the other end of the line, he continues, “I wouldn’t mind trying to be friends again. And maybe… maybe something more. Eventually. After you make it up to me.”

“I can do that!” Nagisa says without hesitation. “I’ll make it up to you so hard you’ll have to forgive me!”

And Rei can’t stop the snort of laughter. There was the Nagisa he had known and loved, always saying the silliest things. “I look forward to that,” he says honestly, and he is.

They can have something again, and maybe they can have something more.

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment and leave kudos! Also, I'm on a mission to write 40 drabbles by the end of the week, and I'm taking prompts on [twitter](https://twitter.com/IncognitoPop/status/1105034778552594435) so come drop me a line if there's something you want to see!


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